Arlington Makes Dozens of Super Bowl Prostitution Arrests

Despite warnings about a wave of thousands of visiting prostitutes for the Super Bowl, Arlington police said they only made a few dozen arrests.

Some published reports estimated that the big game would lure 10,000 to 100,000 prostitutes to the area. Deputy Chief Jaime Ayala said Arlington police did not expect that many to show up but were prepared for anything.

From Jan. 27 to Feb. 6, police arrested 59 people on prostitution-related offenses. Thirty-two of the arrests took place in the week leading up to Super Sunday, 22 of which were prostitution arrests.

With help from Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigation and the Texas attorney general's office, Arlington police had more officers to scan Internet prostitution ads and escort websites looking for criminal activity.

Arlington police said undercover officers responded to online ads, posted their own ads and also sent messages to contact information listed in ads warning them that Arlington police were targeting prostitution-related offenses.

Ayala said 13 of the 59 arrests were of people who were from out of state and said they were here for the Super Bowl.

The 59 arrests included three men believed to be pimps who were arrested on warrants. One of the men faces a human-trafficking charge.

None of the arrests involved juveniles.

"We focused on this crime in order to identify those that need assistance in getting out for either addiction or forced labor," Ayala said.

In 2009, Tampa police arrested 11 people on prostitution charges during the Super Bowl. Miami police made 13 arrests during last year's Super Bowl.

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